Men's Soccer

SCU Men's Soccer 2004 Season In Review

Dec 22, 2004

Men's Soccer Celebrates
Season at Annual Banquet

Mehdi Ballouchy, Jason Pan
share team MVP honors

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Sophomore Mehdi Ballouchy
and senior Jason Pan were named Most Valuable Player for
Offense and Defense, respectively, two of many awards handed out at
the Santa Clara University men's soccer annual banquet, held
Saturday evening on the mission campus at Adobe Lodge.

"The banquet every year is a time to honor the accomplishments
of the team, as well as pay tribute to our senior class who have
finished their careers with our program," third-year head coach
Cameron Rast described.

Ballouchy paced the team with 15 points and first-team
recognition by the WCC. The midfielder debuted as a Bronco with a
bang, earning tournament MVP honors at the diadora Classic and
multiple Player of the Week distinctions. He added All-Tournament
honors at two more events and was named the WCC Player of the Month
in September.

Pan was a model of consistency in the Bronco defense, starting
all 21 matches and earning All-WCC second team recognition. One of
the team captains, he led a defense that ranked 10th nationally.
His goal against Loyola College earned a placing on Soccer
America's National Team of the Week.

Will Weatherly was voted Most Inspirational by his teammates,
while Chris Clark received Most Improved. The Rookie of the Year
was presented to Matthew Hatzke. Weatherly earned first team
All-WCC honors as a forward, and netted eight points while earning
recognition on three All-Tournament teams. He assisted on two
game-winners and received ESPN Academic All-America honors. Clark
saw action in 15 matches, earning his first start against Loyola
Marymount. Hatzke started on the back line and also received WCC
All-Freshman honors.

The program's five seniors each had an opportunity to address
the crowd. Team Captains Pan and Weatherly were joined by Matt
Biggam, Kent Harkness and Devin Skrade in being honored. During his
time at the podium, Harkness issued a challenge for the players to
rededicate themselves to the pursuit of another run at the NCAA
Championship.

Other season awards were also presented, including Ballouchy's
second-team All-America by College Soccer News, Weatherly's
Academic All-America honor and various awards from the WCC.

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Men's Soccer Drops 2-1 Overtime Decision at California
in First Round

The Broncos end their season
with an impressive 15-6-0 mark

BERKELEY, Calif. - The 17th-ranked Santa Clara
men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 overtime heartbreaker to California
in the first round of the NCAA Championship Tournament in Berkeley,
Calif. on Friday afternoon. With the loss, the Broncos end their
season with a 15-6-0 record.

"I thought it was a good match-up," said head coach Cameron
Rast. "A game that we all expected, which was two evenly matched
teams that were going to have to play 90 minutes to win. It turned
out to be a little more today, the fans really got their money's
worth."

Despite being out-shot 9-3 in the first half, the Broncos would
strike first as Keith DeVey put Santa Clara ahead at the 13:40
mark. Medhi Ballouchy took the ball down the center of the field
before passing to DeVey on the right side. The Kula, Hawaii native
re-directed the pass into the bottom of the net for his team-high
fifth goal of the season. The assist was Ballouchy's team-high
ninth assist of 2004.

Freshman goalkeeper Christopher Moreo continued to impress in
only his second collegiate start. The Las Vegas, Nevada native
recorded three saves in the first half.

In the second period, the Bronco defense would keep the Golden
Bears away from the goal until the 74th minute. A penalty kick was
awarded to California in the 73rd minute after a yellow card was
issued to defender Ryan Purtell. California midfielder Nick Hatzke
would convert the penalty kick to even the score at 1-1.

After 15 more minutes of aggressive play, the teams went into
overtime knotted at 1-1. It would not take the Golden Bears long to
tally the game-winning score as Carl Acosta found the back of the
net less than three minutes into the first overtime period.

Moreo would finish the contest with a season-high seven saves,
the highest mark for a Bronco netminder this season.

Following the matches' conclusion, Rast remarked on the 2004
season as a whole. "I see this season as a great period of growth
for our team," Rast commented. "We got off to such a good start.
Then we ran into some teams in our conference, where we had to
figure ourselves out. I think we solved a lot of problems and
gained a lot of maturity."